Big Ideas

Outlaw country wrested more artistic control from the music industry and placed it back in the hands of the artists, while re-focusing country music on individual songs and reaching out to audiences in the 1970s countercultural movement.

Mainstream country successfully co-opted the outlaw movement, which led to the movement’s general dissolution.

Southern rock grew from many of the same sources as country music and shared a portion of its audience, but was situated squarely in the rock genre.

Some country musicians crossed into Southern rock successfully.

Later generations of country musicians claimed Southern rock as part of their country lineage, thereby retroactively connecting it more closely with the country genre.